Menu

QCBCD alum Zakiyya Ashe won the national competition for the 2017-2018 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship prize of $30,000! Starting this month, her year-long project, “Hidden Minorities: Connection through Animation and Graphic Novels,” will take her through Australia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and France. We recently talked to the Berea College grad about her project and what she hopes to accomplish. Read More

Midwest BSFA recently talked to filmmaker and Harvard grad Jumai Yusuf about her short film Pearl Rain, which will be featured at MECCACon International Film Festival in September and October. Read More

The steampunk/dieselpunk tale The Wars of Other Men comes out on DVD this month. We talked with Scott Norman, who plays the film’s nameless main character, about the life of an actor, being a black geek/nerd and “steaselpunk” (TM Scott Norman).

If you’re in or near New York City, Okwui Okpokwasili’s Bronx Gothic is the subject of a documentary film of the same name by Andrew Rossi and is having a two week run at Film Forum (209 W. Houston St., New York, NY 10014) from Wednesday, July 12, through Tuesday, July 25, 2017.

A description from the the New York Times:
“The film follows Ms. Okpokwasili as she prepares for her final performance of the work not far from her childhood home. Mr. Rossi honors the fullness of her live performances, showing long stretches intact, while illuminating the relationships, in particular between daughters and mothers, that orbit her process.”

Check out the interview we did with Okwui when she brought Bronx Gothic to the Contemporary Arts Center last year.

New York artist Okwui Okpokwasili brings her one-woman show, Bronx Gothic, to the Contemporary Arts Center this week. Midwest BSFA talked to the writer/choreographer about combining elements of the Victorian Gothic and West African storytelling, and exploring the concepts of darkness and innocence in her work.

Join us on Twitter for the next Black Sci-Fi Book Club from 6:30-8:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Aug. 29! We’ll be discussing Nicole Givens Kurtz’ “Death’s Harvest” in the anthology Street Magick: Tales of Urban Fantasy. Click here to read the story and use the hashtag #blackscifibookclub to give your thoughts!

We’re back again with another installment of “Projects I’m Supporting”! Up this time: 23-16-9: A Short Film, Niobe: She Is Death, Kamikaze: Volume 2/Soundbox, and the Patreon campaigns of Mikki Kendall and K. Tempest Bradford. Read More

And now for something a little different: Dancer/promoter M Simona Stephenson (stage name Myzchief Du Voodoo) has been actively performing burlesque outside of her bathroom mirror for almost three years. She was just won Master of Improv at the 2017 Burlypicks Utah competition and is headed to the Burlypicks World Championship Finals in Denver later this summer. We talked to her about feminism, her nerdy upbringing and making geekery sexy.

On June 27, author Zig Zag Claybourne will join Midwest BSFA on Twitter for the bi-monthly #blackscibookclub discussion of his story, “Revolver.” We asked him about his background, his love of writing and his upcoming projects. Read More

A few months ago, a white author posted a comment in one of the Facebook groups I moderate seeking a beta reader for the steampunk story he was writing. Because his main character is Asian and he clearly is not, he was interested in finding a person of color to read the story. My response was “hire an Asian sensitivity reader.” Read More